1. Field
Aspects relate to user interfaces, and some more particular aspects relate to provision of advanced graphical interfaces.
2. Related Art
Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) are a common way for users to interface with electronic devices, which frequently have computational capabilities. Generally GUI includes a graphical display of icons representatives of resources available for interaction to a user. Examples of such resources include folder icons representing storage locations in memory, particular files, locations on networks, such as shortcuts, as well as shortcuts to applications. Status information also is frequently presented in a GUI, such as information located in a taskbar relating to currently running programs, and has quick access menus. Applications that execute on such devices typically execute in Windows associated with those devices; these windows can be maximized and minimized. Typically, a GUI is maintained by a shell process closely associated with an operating system executing on the device.
Typically, GUIs employ a desktop metaphor, such that each icon displayed in a GUI is associated with coordinates that locate that icon in a GUI with respect to other icons and to a boundary of the GUI. Often to enhance the aesthetic characteristics of the GUI, a wallpaper image can be disposed in a background of the GUI so that icons of the GUI are overlaid on the background obscure the background. The background image can be selected by a user, and is often stored in reserved video memory because a large portion of it is frequently displayed and so it is beneficial to ensure that it is stored in fast memory.
Input devices allow a user to interact with the GUI such as by moving pointer to hover over a particular location in the GUI associated with a particular icon. Then a user can take another action to indicate that the resource represented by that icon is to be accessed, such an action can include a double-click, for example.
Further improvements and enhancements to the typical graphical user interface model are proposed herein.